TE X A D V E NT URE S No visit to Texas is complete without a stop at the legendary Stockyards National Historic District. Once you arrive in Fort Worth, you know you are in Texas. Over the last 150 years, what started as an Army outpost has blossomed into a sophisticated, cultural city that celebrates its authentic Western heritage while embracing the 21st century. Unique attractions such as the Fort Worth Herd twice-daily cattle drive thrill visitors year-round. Top country music performers play the stage at Billy Bob’s Texas, the world’s largest honky-tonk, and live rodeo takes place every weekend at Cowtown Coliseum. Shopping for handcrafted cowboy boots, hats, clothing and souvenirs is abundant in the Stockyards.
Sundance Square is the very heart of Fort Worth, where millions of people come to dine, shop and be entertained
GET WESTERN The largest and most well-known event occurring is the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo,running Jan. 17 through Feb. 8. This 118-year-old event is the nation’s oldest livestock show, featuring more than 22,000 head of world-class livestock on exhibit and is home of the World’s Original Indoor Rodeo®. The stock show and rodeo attracts more than 1 million visitors each year with heart-pounding rodeo, worldclass livestock, kid-friendly exhibits, live music, cowboy cuisine, carnival thrills and four acres of incredible shopping. General admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children, and free for ages 5 and under. Rodeo admission is separate. *Packages are available at www.FortWorth. com. In the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District, witness the world’s only twice-daily cattle drive every day at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Here, drovers dressed in period-correct clothing drive 16 longhorn steers down the bricks of Exchange Avenue in honor of the city’s Western roots. Each steer represents a decade of the city’s past. Catch a rodeo year-round at Cowtown Coliseum, the site of the world’s first indoor rodeo. The coliseum hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including the year-round Stockyards Championship Rodeo held every Friday and Saturday 58
JANUARY 2014 | TEX APPEAL
night. The rodeo features bull riding, calf roping, team roping, barrel races and events for children.
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS Fort Worth is home to five main entertainment districts, all within three miles of each other. SUNDANCE SQUARE Downtown Fort Worth is a glittering urban oasis—one of the most exciting and pedestrian-friendly downtown areas in the
nation. The 35-block Sundance Square entertainment and shopping district is where both locals and visitors go for food, fun, live theater, shopping and big events such as the Main Street Arts Festival. Nestled inside the heart of one of the most premier and walkable downtown settings in the United States is the newly developed 55,000-square-foot Sundance Square Plaza. The European-style plaza features a permanent stage for concerts and movies; stunning water features; four 36-foot-tall Teflon umbrellas, the first ever in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth features the work of Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko